~1925 Oscar Schmidt Stella 12 String Natural
Description
Oscar Schmidt Auditorium-size 12-String c 1925 | $8500 | (vc2503) If guitars could tell stories this one could spin quite an epic tale! By it's looks, it appears to have been played and played! It's a great example of the increasingly hard to find Stella jumbo 12-strings, played by a number of players from the first half of the 20th century like McTell and Leadbelly, These long-scale beasts are coveted for their deep growl played Spanish-style or with a slide in open tuning. This particular guitar was owned by recording artist and highly regarded ragtime and blues picker Ari Eisinger. The guitar was made in Jersey City, NJ, probably sometime in the 1920s.
The top is spruce with a colorful decalcomania rosette around the sound hole. The back and sides are slab-sawn birch with the back sporting a colorful decal strip. The neck is very likely poplar, carved in a typical 'V' of the period. The fingerboard is black-painted maple with two pearl position dots. The 'floating' bridge is Brazilian rosewood with a stud tailpiece. The tuners are StuMac replacements, it appears.
Overall, the guitar is in solid, mostly original playing condition. Prior repairs include: neck reset; top and back crack repairs with cleats; replaced nut; the original finish is very worn, especially on the top, where only the decal rosette remains; a supporting 'popsicle' brace was added under the fingerboard extension; a small section of the top at the lower bass bout appears to be a repair; the paint on the fingerboard is nealy worn off from age and play wear; the head stock shows a number of tiny pin holes suggesting that a prior owner had pressed on some type of ornamentation; there are various nicks and dings from age and use; missing end pin. We recently dressed the frets.
The top measures 15 5/8" across the lower bout. Scale length is 26 5/8". The neck measures 1 15/16" across at the nut, with string spacing 2 3/16" across at the saddle.
A solid road warrior with plenty of life left in it, perfect for the 1920s country blues sound!
Comes with a new hard case.
Check the video and sound clip!
The top is spruce with a colorful decalcomania rosette around the sound hole. The back and sides are slab-sawn birch with the back sporting a colorful decal strip. The neck is very likely poplar, carved in a typical 'V' of the period. The fingerboard is black-painted maple with two pearl position dots. The 'floating' bridge is Brazilian rosewood with a stud tailpiece. The tuners are StuMac replacements, it appears.
Overall, the guitar is in solid, mostly original playing condition. Prior repairs include: neck reset; top and back crack repairs with cleats; replaced nut; the original finish is very worn, especially on the top, where only the decal rosette remains; a supporting 'popsicle' brace was added under the fingerboard extension; a small section of the top at the lower bass bout appears to be a repair; the paint on the fingerboard is nealy worn off from age and play wear; the head stock shows a number of tiny pin holes suggesting that a prior owner had pressed on some type of ornamentation; there are various nicks and dings from age and use; missing end pin. We recently dressed the frets.
The top measures 15 5/8" across the lower bout. Scale length is 26 5/8". The neck measures 1 15/16" across at the nut, with string spacing 2 3/16" across at the saddle.
A solid road warrior with plenty of life left in it, perfect for the 1920s country blues sound!
Comes with a new hard case.
Check the video and sound clip!